The Nation Newspaper

Category: Tuesday

  • Debt of a decade

    Debt of a decade

    Exactly today, November 12, 2014, my dearest father, Paul Oni Meduna, passed to the great beyond. As if in a movie playback, I could recall the bits of the details as if it happened yesterday. Three days before he slipped into the coma from which he never ‘returned’, I had spoken to one of the doctors treating him only to be told that he was doing ‘just fine’ as if that was any reassuring. With no visible signs of improvements days after, my siblings and I, convinced that the man deserved every care in modern medicine that money could buy, decided to move him from the place of his primary care in Kogi State to the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital. Shortly after, I secured the ambulance to take him down to Ilorin the next day along with the temporary nursing aid taking care of him. I then told my driver to get ready for the trip from Lagos to Ilorin the next day. To ensure that nothing went wrong, I offered that he take my car home so he could arrive latest by 5 am for the six-hour long journey from Lagos to Ilorin.

    My mistake. I got ready at 4 am the next day and thereafter put a call to the driver only to have all his known telephone lines switched off! By 5 am, it was the same story. That I was in panic was an understatement. Not sure of what to do, I left the house confused. Twenty minutes later, I was on the way to the airport, where mercifully the 7 am Overland Airline was on tarmac ready for its early morning Ilorin trip. Somehow, I found myself on the flight and by 7.45 am, landed in Ilorin! I headed for the hospital to find the old man already settled in the ward. A gentle touch and the old lion stirred if only to acknowledge my presence, his first son.

    Meanwhile, the hired private ambulance from Kogi had, I was told, arrived some 25 minutes earlier, and, many thanks to some of the doctors who were my younger brother’s classmates in the medical school, the patient was immediately taken in to be followed by preliminary examinations.

    Soon after, my driver called to inform me that he had just arrived! This was long past 8 am! Without betraying any emotions, I quietly requested him to hand over the car keys to my wife, not forgetting to add that the trip was no longer necessary since I had already arrived at our agreed destination!

    And then my mission began, starting, expectedly with the bills; then the long to-do lists of tests, some to be conducted at the Kwara State government-owned diagnostic centre some 20-25 minutes away, and then ancillary instructions. Although past caring what the procedures cost or how much time it took, I managed in between, to steal furtive glances just to be sure he was still around.

    Sometime around 4 pm, we returned from the diagnostic centre to the hospital where the doctors took their turns to examine him. I then turned the nurse, who, by now, extremely fatigued from lack of sleep and the tortuous journey, could barely stand. I requested that she took out some time to rest till about 8 pm since she would have to spend the night at the hospital, after which I could retire to the hotel.

    Moments after being finally left alone with him, memories of everything he has been to me and my siblings came flooding in.

    Here was a man, who never saw the four walls, of a formal school, yet grasped the import and value of education in his adolescence. While his peers thought little of formal education, he taught himself how to read and write; did a number of correspondence courses in religious education with nearly a dozen certificates elegantly framed in his living room as attestation. He was a regular subscriber to the Yoruba Challenge, the Yoruba publication of the Jos-based Challenge Publications founded by the Sudan Interior Mission (SIM) better known now as Evangelical Churches Winning All (ECWA). A community leader, his life exemplified service. He would travel miles on his Raleigh bicycle to attend weekly community meetings and then stay behind for church service.

    A bridge builder and intense family man, he taught by his sheer force of example the virtue of sacrifice and giving. He was the go-to whenever knotty issues in the family and community arose. To his immediate family, he ensured they never lacked; his children’s education came first, second and possibly third in his order of priority. Often derided by his friends for spoiling them, he never took offence; his argument was that the choice he made was in farming – and so his children, being entitled to theirs, and having already made their resounding choice with their good grades, deserved every encouragement to stay the course!

    Read Also: EFCC clears Goje’s daughter for alleged naira abuse invites Nigerien bridegroom

    Known to be strong willed and decisive – a firm believer in not sparing the rod of discipline no matter who was involved, I often took pride in being able to access the genial side of his intrepid personality.

    Did he laugh last?

    Lying there almost lifeless, I needed no medics to appreciate that the omens were far from good. Then, the tears came, slowly. Surely, at 84 and in a country where life expectancy was barely 50, it was not a question of being too young to exit. But then, I recalled that he had cheated death, not once but twice before this time.

    First was a ghastly motor accident on January 5, 1978 from where he not only emerged as a lone survivor but left him with a lifelong limp after several rounds of surgical interventions. The second, a gripping drama of sorts, could best be described as a case of quackery by a so-called doctor. That was in 2002. He had called to complain of being unwell and was immediately directed to see a doctor. The latter had put him on a drip, but rather than improve, his condition got worse. My younger brother Temitope, also a doctor, had called the doctor in charge (a private hospital) from his South African base to inquire not just about his condition but the course of treatment. He would call to request that I take my dad from that doctor of death – something to do with the doctor giving a patient with high blood sugar intravenous sugar solution!

    Was he going to be lucky the third time?

    This was the question on my mind as I left the hospital that night. Time was 9 pm. Arriving  the hotel 45 minutes later, I suddenly remembered that I hadn’t eaten all day and so immediately called the restaurant. No sooner had I dropped the intercom than my phone rang – and with it the message I dreaded to hear: Papa has gone to sleep.

    Just like that. And then the flood of tears came.

    It’s been 10 years since. His body was committed to Mother earth on April 3, 2015. Today, as my family celebrates the decade of his passing, there remains, for yours truly in particular, a pile of debts remaining to pay. From the people who freely gave of their resources to those who risked the trip amidst the heavily militarised highways as the 2015 elections reached crisis point, the moment affords me the singular opportunity to finally say – thank you. May God bless you all.

  • Exacerbating poverty in northwest

    Exacerbating poverty in northwest

    Every effort should be made to pulverize the so called Lukarawa terrorists, mutating in the northwest in its infancy considering what the nation went through in the hands of the Boko Haram. The news that a new terror group has metamorphosed in the country broke last week, after the group killed 15 persons in Mera, Augie Local Government Area, of Kebbi State. The Defence Headquarters announced that the group moved into Sokoto and Kebbi states, from Niger and the Sahel region.

    Expectedly, the governor of Kebbi State, Nasir Idris, has called on the military to save the people from the danger posed by the terrorist group. Unlike in the past, nobody is playing politics with whether the invaders are mere bandits or have metamorphosed to terrorists. Even without waiting for the federal government to take steps to formally declare the group as a terrorist organization, the Kebbi State government and the socio-political organization, the Arewa Consultative Assembly (ACF), are united in calling the emergent group a terrorist organization.

    In the past, politics would have overshadowed the looming danger posed by the armed terror group. According to Prof Tukur Mohammed Baba: “The Arewa Consultative Forum is deeply concerned about the emergence of a new armed terror group, Lakurawa, in northwest states of Kebbi and Sokoto, as confirmed by local authorities as well as the DHQ.” He went on: “Lukarawas, at this incipient stage of its emergence, must not be tolerated or allowed to entrench itself to be embedded in our communities through benign neglect and/or kid-glove treatment, as was the case with Boko Haram insurgency, farmer-herder clashes and banditry in the Northeast, North-central and Northwest areas, respectively.”

    It is interesting that the farmer-herder clashes in the North-central is now lined up together with other terrorist acts, in other parts of the north, instead of the prevailing attempt to label it as mere economic dispute between pastoralists and farmers. And yet, the people we call herders, wantonly kill hundreds, in communities across the Northcentral, in many instances seeking to wipe out entire residents of villages and communities. The ACF which is quick to call for action when herders are attacked, usually keep mum and ask for understanding when mayhem is visited on the farming communities.

    Read Also: TETFund rakes N1.5trn as education tax in 2024

    This saddening attitude was displayed by former president, Muhammadu Buhari, who called on communities at the risk of genocide by rampaging herders, to show compassion for their fellow citizens seeking a means of livelihood. Instead of dealing with the terrorists masquerading as herders, the government sought some form of appeasement, which was called RUGA. With the government and influential leaders showing lack of neutrality in the incessant crisis, government policies to ameliorate the crisis always meet with a brick wall.

     Sadly, the insincerity of purpose has made it difficult for government to deal with that crisis which has contributed greatly to the food insecurity facing the country. The Boko Haram crisis followed a different trajectory, but almost consumed the entire Northeast. The insurgency which started in 2009, as a rebellion against the secular government in Borno State, eventuated into a terror machine ravaging parts of Northern Cameroun, Southern Niger and Western Chad. Even with a combination of forces across the affected countries, defeating the group has become an uphill task.

    The result is that about 38,683 lives have been lost, 244,000 turned into refugees and 952,029 children made to drop out of school. Of course there is massive destruction of communities and devastating effects on the social, economic and general lives of the people. According to the World Bank, the conflict has significantly destroyed physical infrastructure, disrupted social services and dislocated social cohesion among the people.  These challenges according to the UNDP, further affected the precarious lives of people, with a poverty rate of 69 percent and a literacy rate of 28 percent.

    Sadly, the Northwest, the emerging epicentre of the new terror group, despite its political advantages since independence, is the second most underdeveloped region of the country. It ranks very poor in human development index and has the highest population amongst the regions, in Nigeria – a combination that makes recruitment of followers for the new terror group easier. The region has 75.8 percent of its population entangled in multi-dimensional poverty; slightly lower that 76.5 percent for the Northeast. And on state basis, Sokoto has the highest, at 86.10, Jigawa – 83.30, Zamfara – 82.70, Kebbi – 79.10, Katsina – 77.50, and Kano – 68.80. 

    The three regions in the north make up more than 70 percent of the Nigeria’s total multidimensional poor. According to the UNDP, “the Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index (MPI) represents the number of people who are multi-dimensionally poor and the deprivations such people face at the household level. It is the share of the population that is multi-dimensionally poor adjusted by the intensity of deprivation.” It went on “Poverty is not merely the impoverished state in which a person actually lives in, but a lack of real opportunities due to social and other constraints and circumstances that inhibit living a valuable and dignified life.”

    With the destructive tendencies of terror groups, if the nascent terror organization in the northwest is allowed to fester and expand, the already bad situation would only get worse. The responsibility to ensure that Lukarawas do not gain foothold in the region is that of the community and traditional leaders, local government authorities, state governments and the federal government. Sadly, the maladministration of the past and perhaps the present, exacerbated the level of poverty in the region, and thus a potential nest for the terrorist group.

    If the level of literacy and other social indices in the region were better, the group would never have contemplated making the region a potential base. But apparently, after looking at all the indices, they may have come to the conclusion, that their terror group would do well, in such a nest of poverty and underdevelopment. As this writer has argued recently, the northern region must wake up to the numerous challenges facing it, and by extension, the entire country. The age-long attempt to curtail the spread of western education is at the root of the poverty in the region.

    Unfortunately, some of the leaders instead of making a differentiation between education and religion, lumps the two together, and in resisting the spread of other religions, also build a bulwark against education. Yet, Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirate have leaders who trained in western countries. Even local leaders in Nigeria, attended schools in western countries, yet, the ordinary people are encouraged to treat western education, as haram.

    The northern leaders already campaigning to take over power in 2027 may be behaving like the proverbial man chasing rats while the roof of his house is on fire.

  • Again, the Rivers war!

    Again, the Rivers war!

    The latest front in the Rivers “civil war” is an Abuja Federal High Court halting federal allocations to Rivers State — till Governor Siminalayi Fubara legalizes his 2024 budget.

    Now, 2024 has less than two months to expire.  Yet, the Rivers governor — at least by the court’s verdict — has been spending illicit money!

    That order is double thunder that grates.  In the eye of emotion, it’s cruel.  But in the eye of law, it is dire, but hardly wrong. 

    Next to treason (which overthrows the democratic order) spending public money, without legal appropriation, is No. 1 political crime in a democracy — remember?

    The law is indeed very clear.  You could hardly question the propriety of that order.  But it could also prove very dire for Rivers.

    By a BudgIT ranking on states’ dependence on federal allocations, Rivers sits on No. 24, depending on federal allocations to the tune of 60.44%.  That means it needs more than N6 federal cash out of every N10 it spends.

    Lagos — the state that least depends on federal  allocations — does much better: at 26.55%, needing less than N3 for every N10. 

    Rivers does worse than hinterland Osun, with no oil wealth (60.11%); but far better than the other three oil “moguls”: Bayelsa (92.17%: this state’s internally generated revenue is near-zero!), Akwa Ibom (86.29%) and Delta (83.88%). Nigeria’s oil-rich states should really do better to grow their IGRs!

    But back to the Rivers’ blight.  With its level of dependence on federally shared cash, you can imagine the putative collapse awaiting it, when that order well and truly dawns.  Hard, hard road for Rivers!

    That’s why the pity symphony are shrill with their dolorous trumpets.

    Read Also: I’m still in charge, says embattled UNIZIK VC

    Peter Obi, with characteristic wailing, just weighed in.  His sweet prism only sees victims.  It’s blissfully blind to the clear appropriation crime Justice Joyce Abdulmalk fingered in her order.  To Obi and wailing clan, there is neither joy nor justice from that Joyce!

    “Consider the pensioner struggling to survive on a meager income alongside the health workers, school teachers, civil servants, and everyday citizens whose lives are already marked by severe hardship,” Obi rued, eye bleary with bumper tears, “How much can they endure?  This latest development risks pushing them even further into distress — even into untimely deaths — by compounding the challenges they face each day.”

    For good measure, “severe hardship” is a not-so-subtle dig at Abuja.  Cant!

    Still, the suit has a deep partisan root.  The 27 Rivers Assembly members, loyal to Nyesom Wike, ex-Rivers governor but sitting FCT minister, took the case to court, though on the solid ground of the governor spending public money without proper appropriation.

    “Proper” is key here: for Governor Fubara could also counter that he passed the budget through a four-man legislature — down from the five loyal to him, since Edison Ehie, the former Speaker that resisted Fubara’s rushed impeachment attempt, has since resigned to become Fubara’s chief of staff.

    He could even double down on that by claiming that the 27 lawmakers, now after his scalp, had crossed over to APC, from PDP on which platform they sought and won election; and had forfeited their seats, on the basis of that sole defection. 

    Indeed, this twin-claim Fubara has always pushed — no crime.

    Still, can a claimant come to judgment and reward himself victory?  That is the major chink in Fubara’s armour.  Turning a mere claim into gubernatorial power is nothing but self-help.  Self-help is the diametric opposite to due process.

    Worse: the optics!  How does four versus 27 look, even to the most ardent of the Fubara sentimental ensemble?  Forget clinical law!  Indulge in frothing emotion!  Shouldn’t four against 27, in a House of Assembly of 32 members, be defensive?

    Outright impeachment may well be the next stage in the war, should the court order not force Governor Fubara to regularize his budget.  If that push were to come to a shove, the governor would stay properly impeached, on the sole basis of spending public money without appropriation. 

    The evidence, naked and glowering, is out there in the public space — except he can prove that business concept of force majeure: meaning that as the 27 had defected, and government business couldn’t wait for fresh elections to replace them, he had no choice but to present his budget to the available and valid members.

    That would have been the Rivers’ domesticated Doctrine of Necessity, which the Senate adopted to romp President Goodluck Jonathan into office!

    Of course, both impeachment and shutting off Rivers from the federal cash spigot, would have grave political whiplashes.

    Fubara could brand Wike and co “enemies of Rivers”.  With the pocket hurting, that could gather quite some traction.  Wike, who often prides himself as the guardian-in-chief of Rivers’ interests and wellbeing, could suffer some psychological meltdown.

    Worse: the so-called “structure”, for which Wike risks everything, would have come unstuck — if not already unstuck; and the friends-turned-foes now fishing for fresh alliances for 2027.

    Still, the impeachment would happen and the heavens won’t fall.  Which prompts the wise to ask: is this fight-to-finish really worth the while? But others are quick to riposte: it’s the only way Rivers knows — that giant land of mighty gladiators!

    Still, should the worst happen, Governor Fubara would explain why he attracted a swarm of stinging bees to his once-upon-a-time serene homestead.

    Yes, Wike is domineering.  Wike is aggressive.  Wike is cantankerous.  Wike takes no prisoners!  Still, Fubara knew all that when he agreed, feigning dumbness, to be Wike’s power puppet, to maintain his “structure”.  Did Fubara think turning his back on all that would end well? 

    Moralists could squirm all they like.  But realpolitik — grim and dirty — is what it is!

    Besides, wouldn’t this court order have been avoided, had Fubara stuck to the original presidential peace treaty that directed him, for the sake of peace, to re-present his budget to the Rivers Assembly — read Wike’s sworn loyalists?

    Had he done that, wouldn’t he have craftily exposed the excesses of the Wike side, and thrown them on the defensive, to gain some concessions?  But no! 

    Fubara would rather be egged on by brazen Ijaw tribalists, some of them ace conflict entrepreneurs, who saw the Wike/Fubara tiff a growth area to milk!  They were not there when Wike and Fubara were striking their deal.  They would not also be there when the chips are down, and Fubara stands alone and naked.

    Fubara should present his budget to the majority of lawmakers, even while pursuing his suit to determine their correct status.  It’s called stooping to conquer. 

    The Wike side too should quit their hard stance; and not play politics with passing the people’s money, in utmost good faith, for the people’s welfare. 

    It’s high time both sides embraced a mutual truce, to work for the people of Rivers.  A win-win is better than a lose-lose that a looming showdown portends.

  • Reorienting Northern Nigeria

    Reorienting Northern Nigeria

    One of the biggest news scam of this century was that there was an agreement amongst the primordial actors that the amalgamation of Northern Protectorate and the Colony of Lagos and Southern Protectorate in 1914 was structured to last for only 100 years. The purveyors of the fake news niftily encouraged those disenchanted with the state of Nigeria to treat the nation as an expired product hence their trenchant determination to discard Nigeria into a waste bin. Of course, the protagonists made no attempt to provide proof of their wishful claims.

    The majority of the protagonists in the southern part of the country who see the northern part of the country, especially those in the north-west and north-east, as a burden on the rest of the country merely got further ammunition to pursue their desire to end a troubled Nigerian union. They point at the humongous socio-economic challenges facing the northern part of the country, and hold the view that nothing good can ever come from that part of the country. Those from northern part of the country, who because of the exigencies of Nigerian history, see themselves as the privileged class, view the agitators, as trouble makers who should be dealt with, mercilessly.

    On their part, the by-product of the decades of mismanagement in the north: the talakawas, almajaris, internally displaced persons, petty cattle rustlers, long trekking cattle herders, and other hordes of poverty-stricken masses in the northern part of the country see their compatriots in the southern part, with different idiosyncrasies, culture, religion and sundry practices, as the root cause of their social, economic and political dislocation. Thus at any slightest opportunity, that horde of the disposed and disoriented commoners, seeks to exert hefty prices from those who cause their problem. 

    In the southern part, a fervent wave of agitators who believe inextricably that the ways of the people from the so-called core north, and the ways of their compatriots from the southern part, can never align, seek both lawful and unlawful means, to end the nightmarish marriage, called Nigeria. The more enlightened amongst them, deride people of the northern Nigeria, as economic laggards, who depend on the southern part of the country for their survival. At every election cycles, political actors from the northern part of the country thus make strenuous efforts to show that the north is not a strain on the rest of the country. 

    Read Also: NAF strikes clears Niger forest, kill several terrorists

    Last week, the northern governors and the traditional rulers in the north, once again fell into that narrative, that they depend on the resources from southern parts of the country to survive. They moved against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration’s tax reform bills currently before the National Assembly. According to experts, the new tax reform bills are made up of four major components. And each is expected to deal with a specific aspect of tax administration. The part that the northern power elite stringently oppose, deal with the sharing of the proceeds from the Value Added Tax (VAT).

    In a show of brinkmanship, the Nigeria Economic Council (NEC), headed by vice president Kashim Shettima, also asked the federal government to withdraw the bill, and engage in more consultations, with stakeholders. While the NEC asked for withdrawal, the northern power elites that met, asked their representatives and political leaders not to support any bill that is against northern interest – read, the provision that seeks to alter the sharing model for VAT monies, in favour of where the goods and service are derived, as against a nebulous equality of states.

    Expectedly, the Tinubu administration which has shown remarkable determination to push on with its economic reforms is resisting the advice to withdraw the bills. The spokesperson of the president avers that the bill is a result of one year of painstaking consultations, and that any objections from any group to any provision of the bill should be made during the legislative process, towards passing of the bill. That ordinarily is the right part to follow and not to throw away the entire bills, for a few disconcerting provisions.  

    While political brinkmanship is part of the business of politics, the northern leaders must begin a reorientation process. The seemingly dependency mind-set, which may have informed their opposition to the VAT provision of the tax reform bills or any other effort at fiscal federalism, needs to reset. But for short-sightedness and incompetence, the north is potentially richer than the south. Even the northwest states of Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Kastina, Kebbi, Sokoto, and Zamfara, most of which have the worst indices of poverty, arguably are very rich with mineral resources and agricultural potentials.  

    The mineral resources in Zamfara were reputed by the former state governor, Mahmudu Aliyu Shinkafi, to be about 60 percent of the entire mineral deposit in the country. The lands in many parts of the northern region are much more fertile than in the south, which makes them the food basket of the country. Recent food crisis in the country has shown that the southern part of the country is actually dependent on the north for its food supply. Since insurgency became trenchant in many states in the north, Nigeria has been in the throes of food crisis.

    Yet, despite the enormous natural resources the northern states are endowed with, the poverty indices in the region remains endemic. In a paper, presented few years ago, Kingsley Moghalu, surmised the comparative poverty levels amongst the regions of the country thus: “Comparative regional poverty rates in Nigeria are: North-West: 80.9%, North-East: 76.8%, North-Central: 45.7%, giving a northern poverty average of 67.8%. Compare this with the southern regions: South-West: 19.3%, South-South: 25.2%, South-East: 27.4%, with a southern average of 24%. Northern Nigeria is nearly three times poorer than Southern Nigeria.”

    If the north wishes to liberate itself from the strangulating poverty and underdevelopment that has castrated the region, and by extension the entire Nigeria, it must begin to look at economic models, different from the dependency syndrome, which has not saved the day. Since Nigeria’s independence, the northern part has had more heads of state or presidents than the southern part of the country. The north has more states, senatorial zones, federal constituencies, local governments, and land mass, which are all the criteria used to share or cream resources from the federal centre.

    Yet, despite all these advantages, the north is still thrice poorer than the south. So, the north needs to introspect and seek new ways to extricate the region from the gripping poverty that makes the region a ticking time bomb – a bomb that could consume not just the region, but the entire country. Luckily, there seems to be some new state governors working had to change the paradigm.  While not urging the north to swallow the tax bills, hook, line and sinker; the enduring principle should be to create its own wealth, rather than seek to own what does not belong to the north, rightfully.

  • How not to handle ‘little’ things

    How not to handle ‘little’ things

    Thanks to Julius Berger Plc and the Nigerian officialdom that only remembered the need to replace the expansion joints on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway long bridge months after the project was supposed to have been in use, it has been a return of travellers on that route to the Season 2.0 of the nightmare that the daily shuttle on that vital corridor was once was.

    For commuters, whether in-bound or outbound the nation’s commercial capital, the story of the daily agony is perhaps now surpassed by the Season 1.0 in the Dante’s Hell that Nigerians were forced to endure by Julius Berger and a works ministry that chose to treat a foreign entity contracted to do a job as if it was doing the people a favour.  Never mind their programmed misery, Nigerians are supposed to be grateful that an element of the work that the company had left undone is at least receiving attention, even if it comes at the pains of sorrow, tears and blood (apologies to the immortal Fela) for the hapless people.

    Yes; it’s been nearly a year since Julius Berger and their enablers returned to the Lagos-Ibadan expressway with their rod of affliction on the hapless commuters of that vital gateway. You would imagine that fixing those expansion joints – the rubber connectors that allow the disparate concrete slabs just enough space to ‘breathe’ to avoid cracks – wouldn’t take eternity to replace, at least not on such a vital road that connects Lagos with the rest of the country. Not to Julius Berger, the so-called construction giant. Apparently, nothing moves them: Not the imperative of urgency; nothing of empathy for those forced to do their runs on that stretch. Nothing in the needless millions of man-hours lost daily in their construction-induced snarl is supposed to make a difference in their operational manual. Nigerians, after all, can take anything.

    Yes, it is a far cry from what obtained in Season 1.0. Then, Nigerians understood the meaning of shege. On a particular night, my colleague, Lawal Ogienagbon and I left our Matori Lagos office at 10 pm only to arrive at our Arepo home which is some 30 minutes’ drive away the next day at 8.15 am! There was a particular story of a medic said to have given up the ghost right on the wheel in the impossible traffic.  I know a family that sold their beautiful home when things became unbearable to relocate to a ‘saner’ part of Lagos.

    I must state that things are much better now.  That is if you consider the in-bound traffic taking some 30 odd minutes for a trip that would ordinarily take a maximum of five minutes as less-bad. However, I must also say that the out-bound segment is much worse. The other week, it took me and another colleague, Kelvin  Osa – Okunbor, nearly two hours to make the distance. While I thought that hell had returned at some point that night, his worry was that the company, at their current pace, will probably extend till sometimes around the middle of next year to complete! He couldn’t figure out a worse nightmare.

    Yes, things are better; but then it is not necessarily because the company has done anything to improve on its management of the work; as for those charged with the duty of oversight, theirs have been simply disaster! Whatever noticeable improvements have been recorded are only because the scope of the job is smaller. Julius Berger has done nothing to improve on its service standards any more than those in oversight over them have raised their game.

    Read Also: Understanding Tinubu’s tax bills of reliefs for Nigerians, businesses

    Which is Nigerians must wonder: what it is in those joints on a stretch that is barely four kilometres long on either side to qualify it for a rocket science that must cost the treasury – aside the billions of naira in contract sums – the indeterminable man-hours, in addition to incalculable public health issues?

    I would imagine that a huge chunk of the contractual costs charged on our treasury by an entity like Julius Berger would cover to the minutest detail, the value of the man-hours of skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled labour deployed – added to the material costs and possible time overruns!  Do those in charge of our public works ever factor in the economics of time and such other vital details in the agreed programme with the contractors?

    Now that the yuletide season is barely two months away, Nigerians obviously have a lot to worry about. I recall a respected senior colleague, Jide Oluwajuyitan once quoting Clement Oladele, a Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC)’s sector commander, as saying that the road caters for “no fewer than 16 million passengers during the festive period”; and that some 1.8 million vehicles, 72% of which are commercial vehicles, actually ply the road between December and January every year. That was a few years back. With petrol prices hitting the roofs since, projections, although uncertain at this time, leaves little to imagination. High petrol prices or not; it seems unlikely that Nigerians will give up their yuletide reunions. That is simply saying it as it is!

    As to what might happen in a short while, I can hazard a guess: the company will by mid-next month offer to remove those concrete barriers, the very source of the agony, only for the nightmare to return in full force when the yuletide season is over.

    The above, no doubt, is a familiar story. Far from being an isolated one, it is the archetypal Nigerians story of the gross mismanagement of public trust by regulators and service providers alike. They come in various shades and colours.

    How about, for instance, the so-called electricity Distribution Companies (Discos) and their perfect con-act of reaping where they have not sown; who after procuring your billing meters at a premium turns round to tell you years later, that the still-functioning device has not only been phased out, but that you need to cough out another humongous sum for replacement or risk being slapped with an outrageously extortionate estimated billing regime?

    Here is my appeal to Julius Berger; it is time  to get the job over and done with. While to you might belong the near-absolute control of time and space, not so for the long-suffering Nigerians currently forced to endure the agony of your inscrutable tardiness, if not arrogance. To put it nicely, the current pace of fixing the joints is painfully slow, unacceptable. 

    And if I may ask: what would it take the company to put more men and material to work if only to lessen the pain of the travellers on that corridor?

  • Lagos, Red rail and ‘now’

    Lagos, Red rail and ‘now’

    Forget the naysayers — the APC era, from 2015, has made more critical investments to secure Nigeria’s future than the PDP era (1999-2015). 

    Infrastructure is the hallmark of all that.  That’s why the Lagos Red rail — the city’s second, after the Blue rail — couldn’t have come at a better time. To shield commuters from insane petrol pricing, mass rail is it!

    Even then, the Bola Tinubu government, with its beehive of policy forays, is faced with the grim imperative of softening the harsh “now”.  It needs a balancing act — and fast!

    Its reforms — very clear with petrol selling at N1, 000-a-litre — bite too hard.  Petrol is just too central — critical is more exact — to Nigeria’s daily socio-economic living. 

    That general angst has given sundry malcontents the oomph for sundry mischief: pitch mayhem and anarchy; and pose as cynical champions for the helpless. 

    The danger is that even hitherto cloistered demographics — which always gives any ruling order the benefit of doubt — could be getting progressively snared by this bitter economic Armageddon.  Imagine a retired director of a federal broadcaster calling Ripples and ruing how insane petrol cost has blasted away his middling pension!

    The pocket sure hurts!  But that is sheer paradise for the pimps of chaos!  Which is why the president must think of a balancing act, to soften the very short run.

    But back to the PDP-APC years; and the present dystopia powered by arid pockets.

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the living emblem of the PDP years, can huff and puff as he likes in self-glorification.  But beyond his personal shrine — the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) — what public infrastructure (routine or ground-breaking) can his PDP era point to?

    True, former President Goodluck Jonathan did the bulk of the work on the Abuja-Kaduna rail, though President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated that project. 

    Still, the economy under Jonathan was at best a ghost, with all the grand pretensions of the Obasanjo years; and the raw bricks of Jonathan’s own effete years finally crumbling on him, culminating in his defeat at the polls. 

    But Jonathan has at least shown more post-power gumption than his loud and ever-grating predecessor!

    Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is another un-vanishing shadow of the PDP years.  He postures as some economic messiah but always ends a damp squib. 

    The more he bears down on the polity, the more he reminds the acute-minded of the wasted years of the PDP.  He could nevertheless fob the simplistic as some latter-day saint.  But make no mistake: he belongs to the past.  Only he doesn’t know it.

    Peter Obi is another PDP-era sidekick — or is it side chick? His political whoredom has shunted him from APGA to PDP.  Now, he is regnant punter, with his Obidients, in LP.  Another hysterical voice in these hard times!

    Read Also: Experts okay 25% tax on wealthy Nigerians

    But everyone knows Obi is a merry political cynic, who prays — and fasts? — for bad news, so he could blare and burnish his relevance with fitful lamentations. 

    He wouldn’t know anything about accumulating infrastructure — against cynical “savings” to support family business! — for the future generation, as his Anambra records as governor clearly shows.  The more the hardship hits, the more the cynical Obi would squeal, even if he hardly has any solution to anything!

    Still, the oddest of these voices — which nevertheless are sweet music to hurting pockets — is The Guardian newspaper: “Misery, harsh policies driving desperate choices” (October 25).

    A reporter obsessed with military rule.  An excitable cartoonist stokes the fire with suggestive, offensive military hardware.  The editor failed to properly angle the story.  Enter, a loud innuendo, as rash as a merry pitch for military rule by The Guardian!

    Now, it’s a democracy; and newspapers can stand wherever they choose.  Daily Trust just got its fingers burnt by pushing fiction as legitimate, if adversarial, reportage.  It just ate the humble pie and has duly apologized — rather noble, though avoidable.

    The Punch has always pushed its right to radical — some insist, infantile — journalism. From 11 December 2019, it thundered down at PMB as “The President, Major-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd)”, as if its arrogance and fulminations would strip PMB of his newly won second term!

    Nigerian Tribune too has been advocating views with which its founder, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, would have been well and truly shocked.  Its commentariat also pushes raw, lowest common denominator populism to titillate its captive readers.

    Now, Trust, The Punch and Nigerian Tribune are no devil any more than The Nation is a saint, for clambering on different sides of the opposition/support continuum.  Neither side has committed any offence, though each, by its stand, continues to miff or please the ruling order.

    It’s this delicate balance The Guardian just ruptured with its inglorious pitch for military rule.  Even if it balks at the present government’s policies — no crime — democracy behoves it to mobilize towards the next election, not its innuendo for military coup.

    Still, The Guardian’s ludicrous pitch is symptomatic of the Nigerian media — high priests of institutional memory that lack the most basic sense of institutional memory! 

    For many in the media, grafting the past with the present, for a balanced and more coherent narrative, is a no-no! Sweet scandals and thunderous sensation, spiced with sweeping generalizations is it!  Only today matters!  Yesterday is dead!  Tomorrow never comes!

    The media here loves to report with little or no context.  That is why every government is a continuation of the media’s cherished dystopia, from which it dutifully thunders!

    Which is why The Guardian, linked with military rule, is rich! Founded on 2 February 1983, its reportorial duo of Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irabor were in 1984 jailed under Decree 4, when Gen. Buhari was Head of State.  It’s ode to The Guardian’s near-zero sense of history that it even echoes street babbles for such a grim encore!

    The Guardian will stew in own juice.  Still, the President and his economic team must realize how hard the policy reforms bite; and how not a few would hug illicit rascalities, at the present order’s expense.

    It might be a reform badge of honour to, before IMF and allied Washington crowd, brag that, at last, petrol is now sold at a price determined by “market forces”. 

    But to the economically crushed at home, that’s crowing over harsh social costs. That  further drives up hunger and anger.  So, it is imperative to tone down on the “reforms”, without aborting its strategic goals.

    As the extant policies reform government accounts, they deform the household till.  Aside the stupendously rich, hardly any demographics is exempt.

    The TUC President already made a useful suggestion on short-term petrol subsidy, by fixing a special rate for the Naira to sell crude oil to local refiners. The president should listen, act fast and put in place lower petrol costs until CNG is mainstreamed.

    Incidentally, the Lagos rail — Red and Blue — points the way to beating high shuttle costs, and crashing inflation, in a glorious season of hiked petrol pump prices. 

    But how many states can boast the putative rail penetration of Lagos — acquired, by the way, despite the obduracy of the Obasanjo-led PDP years — to reduce their people’s pains, in the post-petrol subsidy economy?

  • Healing the southeast

    Healing the southeast

    The south-eastern states of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo have been in the news for good and bad reasons recently. The good news included the signing into law of the South East Development Commission, SEDC, by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. This columnist has over the years canvassed for the establishment of that type of commission, to pursue joint economic activities, especially in agriculture, transportation, and energy. No doubt, common projects in agriculture and agro-allied industrialization, is the lowest hanging fruit.

    There is an agricultural belt stretching from Anambra to Enugu down to Ebonyi State. There is also another stretch, between Abia and Imo, all of which can enjoy the intellectual output of the University of Agriculture, at Umudike. The SEDC should pioneer joint venture projects, between these states, which would lead to the resuscitation and redevelopment of complementary agro-allied industries, which had been abandoned after the Michael Okpara era. One of such, is large scale rice production, which could feed from the Anam river basin, stretching from Anambra to Enugu states.

    Another common interest in agriculture should be palm oil production which was the mainstay of exports for the defunct Eastern Nigeria. Palm produce from Abia and Imo, if revitalized and modernized, could become a major foreign exchange earner for the governments in the region. On that too, the commission could tap into the knowledge base of the university at Umudike for research and development of that sector. There are other cash crops like cashew and cassava which could exponentially benefit from such synergy amongst the states.

    Another major area that should interest the SEDC, is ensuring energy security for states in the region. Luckily there is abundance of crude oil in the region, and already a refinery in Anambra. The commission should be able to project the short, medium and long term needs of the region, and make necessary recommendations to the governments. It would be foolhardy not to take heed of the instructive inevitable match of the present administration to a free market driven and full deregulation of the petroleum industry.

    Read Also: Locals allege French involvement in CAR missing genital crisis

    Included in the energy mix, is the production and distribution of electricity in the region. All states in the region should quickly pass into law, their own state electricity regulatory authorities, similar to what has been done in Enugu State. With that in place, the various regulatory authorities can enter into a joint venture agreement, to enhance research on how the region can cooperate and provide multi-dimensional electricity sources for the region. The incessant collapse of the national grid indicates that in the near future, regions/states would have to resort to their own grids if they wish to make economic progress to lift their people out of poverty.

    The SEDC should also be interest in designing interstate railways for the region, which will aid the movement of especially agricultural products to the cities. Luckily, railway is no longer in the exclusive legislative list, so states can legislate on it and through joint venture agreements cooperate in planning interstate railways. Again, the full deregulation of the fuel supply, indicates that mass transportation can be the only panache to the crisis in the sector. Through zonal arrangement, the commission can also venture into air and road transport relying on the economy of scale, which regional partnership will provide.

    Of note, the cooperation within the region will attract massive private capital, more than what the states can individually offer. But for prebendalism and consequent mismanagement, the banks and other commonly owned financial institutions like the defunct African Continental Bank, would be in existence. No doubt, if the states can put in place joint bankable proposals in any of the economic activities enumerated above, private capital will tap into the region’s economy. Again, new privately dominant financial institutions can be put in place, by the region, to serve the economy of the region. 

    On the flip side, is the insecurity that has made Mondays in the region a compulsory day of sit-at-home. Unlike public holidays or even Sundays, Mondays remains a dreaded day of no activity, in most states in the region. Interestingly, the government of Enugu State, to a large extent, has tamed the monster, but obviously at a huge recurrent cost. One imagines what the state spends to keep the air and land surveillance every Monday within the state capital metropolis, and how expensive it would be to extend the show of power, across the state.  

    While congratulating the state for the reasonable success it has made in curtailing the activities of the so-called unknown gun men, this writer believes that a synergy amongst the states in the region would achieve a better result. In Anambra, many communities are raising huge capitals to buy private surveillance equipment, recruit operatives, and pay huge salaries to secure their communities. That type of ‘privately owned’ community policing, which has been copied by many communities, arguably was initiated by late Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, in Nnewi community. 

    The economic damage from the insecurity crisis in the region is humongous, and the governors should build a synergy to deal with that challenge. Of course, kinetic and non-kinetic measures should be adopted by the federal, state and local government authorities to address the insecurity challenges. The low hanging fruit for this columnist, is good governance at all levels, which will lead to a buy-in from the people. As simple as it might seem, if the majority of the people see activities to show that the governments are deeply committed to their welfare, they would mobilize to help tame the insecurity.

    Again, Enugu State government has shown how the people can be swayed to react differently. While there is diversification and increase in taxation, in the state, the people are not stringently complaining, because the state government appears to be doing enough to justify the increases. If those in governments in the region, can curtail their wasteful lifestyle, open new economic activities, especially for the youths, and engage the people on how the incomes generated are being used for their good, there will likely be a reduction in the prevalent criminality.

    As I argued here last week, there is near complete abdication of economic activities at the local government areas, across the country. And that helps to feed the insurgency in the rural communities. The saying that a hungry man is an angry may, is a truism. To help tame the hunger and anger in the rural areas, state governors who want peace in their states, should allow and encourage local government administrators, to tap into the economic activities which the constitution has provided for them, so they can help to economically engage the idle minds in the villages.  

    Those of them, who refuse to engage in meaningful ventures, but prefers criminal activities, like kidnapping, extortion, and burglary, of which this writer was a recent victim, would face the security agencies.

  • Neither World Bank nor IMF

    Neither World Bank nor IMF

    For daring to put its snout into the Nigerian trough uninvited, and also for going as far as to proffer an endorsement to Tinubunomics at a time the wailing tribe have desperately sought to declare it a disaster, a good number of Nigerians have since drawn the daggers at the Breton Woods institution – the World Bank. 

    So much for his audacity for saying what most Nigerians probably hate to hear about the twin pillars of Tinubu administration’s reforms – the removal of fuel subsidy and abolition of the multiple foreign exchange regime introduced by the current administration – the World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Ndiame Diop insists that while the reforms may bring hardship, they are actually the tonic needed at this time to ensure the nation’s long-term stability.

    “Reversing these reforms would be detrimental and would spell doom for Nigeria”, he was quoted to have said.

    The bank’s Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, Indermit Gill, would echo a similar sentiment: Nigeria requires the next 10 to 15 years of the reforms to establish itself as a leading economic power, in sub-Saharan Africa and the global stage.

    I guess that it does matter that the message is coming from a quarter that most Nigerians have come to loathe. After all, Nigerians are only too familiar with the Breton Institutions with their misery-inducing conditionalities. Such have been their meddling in the political economy as indeed our officials’ wild embrace of their doctrinae prescriptions, warts and all, that Nigerians’ patriotic instinct should ordinarily be roused into action at the mention of their name. 

    Yet, for the tribe that have long gone past convincing about the current path as being anything but ruinous, they are free to see the endorsement as taking nothing from an assumed toxic brew, but rather as supplying a quick-acting, but no less lethal enzyme to the mix!

    So much for the Tinubunomics and its lofty promises of renewed hope; the metrics, some 17 months after, not least the harsh realities that Nigerians are forced to contend with, are to say the least, dispiriting. And so also the pains that Nigerians are forced to bear together with the palpable frustrations that have attended to them. Not discounting the palpable anomie and the helplessness in the face of the increasingly unbearable cost of surviving the current time.

    My question: couldn’t these have been foreseen; or better still, couldn’t these have been foreseeable? Shrugged off as many are wont to about the answer which are in plain sight, it seems to have been long settled that the demon, of which Nigerians and their utterly irresponsible elite has long opted to live in its denial, will somehow have to be confronted someday. That is the essence of Tinubunomics, an exigency forced on the nation in the moment of dire emergency.

    It is precisely why those fingering the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund as the author and finisher of the ongoing reform and so blame them for the current predicament, alongside their partners framing the issues as ideological could not be more wrong! In fact, the old anger about some external bodies forcing an unpopular pill down the throat of a hapless nation would seem not only diversionary but an extension of that old culture of denial that birthed the lingering debate on the subsidy.  

    The point really is that the problems are ours to fix; aside the plain common sense of it, it is hard to see anything that remotely suggests a meddling by any external body in what the government has done.

    But then, as the government may have also now realised that forcing a shift from the programmed misapprehension of the subsidy question by a section of the vociferous elite is not exactly the same as getting the majority of Nigerians to accept either the fact or the justice of it. One thing is clear though: to say that Nigerians are no more convinced that the government acted right on the matter than they were pre-May 29, 2023 is merely stating the obvious. Sadly, none of the argument about the quantum of under-recovery known to run into trillions every year, the industrial scale smuggling of our relatively cheaper fuel across the borders, seems to have settled anything.

    Read Also: IMF chief hails China’s commitment to climate goals

    The same could be said of the merging of the forex rates. The government’s explicitly stated rationale about dismantling the arbitrage-laden infrastructure that characterised the old forex management regime might seem the right thing for all times and seasons, not a few, apparently, are still of the persuasion that the forex regime under which those connected to the corridors of power had free passage to a world of wealth without work through discretionary forex allocation should still be in place!

    As it appears, the problem isn’t just that the government chose to tread a difficult, but sensible path, but that an institution like the World Bank also thinks it is the most pragmatic thing to do! And that in our clime is supposed to be treasonable! Can anyone beat that?

    World Bank officials or not – Nigerians surely, do not deserve the programmed confusion that have trailed them. For nothing in the consequential measures undertaken by the administration could be deemed to be outside of what the then candidate Tinubu said he would do. And surely, the administration has never been in denial about the pains that would be associated with the measures. As for those having problems with the prerogative of an elected government to undertake such reforms as it deems proper and right for the people, they are certainly entitled to their fantasies; only that administration will not be judged by those standards as much as the ultimate deliverables.  

    I guess takes us to the final point. Surely, the administration has assured that the current pains are temporary. It has to be. With Nigerians currently are at the tipping point, the challenge is for the government to make the people feel the impact of the various ameliorative measures it has put in place.

    Take the CNG initiative as an example, the government still has a long way to deepen its penetration particularly among the commercial transport workers. At the moment, the progress in that sector would seem too slow given the dire emergency currently facing the country. Same with the other broad initiatives rolled out by the government; somehow, they have been rather tardy in delivering on their objectives. Now seems the best time for Nigerians to begin to see results.

    As for the exchange rate, this columnist has made the point before: there is nothing sacrosanct in the exchange rate. The only solution is for the country to export more. We know the challenge with oil production; the problems in that sector are unlikely to disappear anytime soon. As an alternative, there has to be a renewed focus on the non-oil sector. Thus far, Nigeria seems to have made a bad job of it!

    Time in view, for a strategic rethinking of the economy!

  • Local government administrators

    Local government administrators

    There are frantic efforts by laggard state governments across the country to meet the requirement of section 7(1) of the 1999 constitution (as amended), more so, as the beginning of the enforcement of the recent Supreme Court’s landmark judgment is around the corner. The constitution abundantly provides: 

    S.7 – (1) The system of local government by democratically elected local government councils is under this constitution guaranteed, and accordingly, the Government of every state shall ensure their existence under a Law which provides for the establishment, structure, composition, finance and function of such councils.

    (2) The person authorized by law to prescribe the area over which a local government council may exercise authority shall

    (a) define such area as clearly as practicable; and

    (b) ensure, to the extent to which it may be reasonably justifiable, that in defining such area regard is paid to –

    (i) the common interest of the community in the area;

    (ii) traditional association of the community; and

    (iii) administrative convenience

    (3) It shall be the duty of a local government council within the state to participate in economic planning and development of the area referred to in subsection (2) of this section and to this end an economic planning board shall be established by a Law enacted by the House of Assembly of the state.

    (4) The Government of a state shall ensure that every person who is entitled to vote or be voted for at an election to the House of Assembly shall have the right to vote or be voted for at an election to a local government council.

    (5) The functions to be conferred by Law upon local government councils shall include those set out in the Fourth Schedule to the Constitution.

    (6)Subject to the provision of this Constitution–

    (a) the National Assembly shall make provisions for statutory allocation of public revenue to local government council in the Federation; and

    (b) the House of Assembly of a State shall make provisions for statutory allocation of public revenue to local government councils within the state.      

    The Supreme Court in its landmark judgment held that the guarantee of democracy provided for in section 7(1) is sacrosanct, and as such, only democratically elected local governments shall be entitled to receive allocation from the federal government as envisaged by section 6(a) above. Considering that our country runs what some writers have described as a feeding bottle federation, the judgment of the Supreme Court, if implemented, will put enormous powers in the hands of the local government administrators. Whereas there are even more enormous economic potentials in the hands of the local government administrators, most of them, only rely on the handouts, in the same manner as many governors do.

    Read Also: New Anambra Local Government Law: Desperate attempt to fiddle with state’s LG funds

    While the issue of the creation of local governments appear to have been settled in an earlier case between the Lagos State government versus the federal government when President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was the governor of Lagos State, the local government administrators have not summoned courage to test the extent of their economic powers and privileges as envisaged by the provisions of section 7(3), and the Fourth Schedule to the 1999 constitution. A cursory look on the provisions shows that the economic sphere of the local governments is enormous. But sadly, state government over the years, have substantially emasculated those powers.

    Let me list a few of those powers as provided under the Fourth Schedule.

    Paragraph 1(b) – collection of rates, radio and television licenses;

    (c) – establishment and maintenance of cemeteries, burial grounds and homes for the destitute or infirm;

    (e) establishment, maintenance and regulation of slaughter houses, slaughter slabs, markets, motor parks and public conveniences;

    (f) construction and maintenance of roads, streets, street lightings, drain and other public highways, parks, gardens, open spaces, or such public facilities as may be prescribed from time to time by the State House of Assembly;

    (g) naming of roads and streets and numbering of houses;

    (h) provision and maintenance of public conveniences, sewage and refuse disposal;

    (i) registration of all births, deaths and marriages.  

    (iv) restaurants, bakeries and other places for sale of food to the public;

    (v) laundries, and,

    (vi) licensing, regulation and control of the sale of liquor.

    2. The functions of a local government council shall include participation of such council in the government of a state as respects the following matters –

    (a) the provision and maintenance of primary, adult and vocational education;

    (b) the development of agriculture and natural resources, other than the exploitation of minerals

    (c) the provision and maintenance of health services, and

    (d) such other functions as may be conferred on a local government council by the House of Assembly of the state.

    Instead, of pushing the local government administrators, to perform the listed functions, for the good of the states, the scramble to elect local government administrations that are loyal to the state governments, appear to be to be the only paramount interest of state governments. Across the political divides, and states, the challenge is to return candidates of the ruling party in the state, in all the local government elections.  So, nearly every state, ensures through the state electoral commission, the (s)election of chairmen and councillors, from the same party as that of the state governor. One hopes that in returning their favourite party candidates, a thought is speared about those capable of carrying out the enormous economic responsibilities provided for, in the constitution and the relevant state laws.

    This writer calls out the frontline state governments, in the country, to take up the challenge of empowering their local governments, with the responsibilities, as envisaged by the constitution. The executive, legislative and judicial branches in such frontline states can collaborate to make their local governments models for other states. The present disposition of nearly all the states, working to clubber their local governments, to be sheepish and operate as mere cash sharing centres does not do anybody any good. After all, even those presently in government will eventually leave, and join the rest of Nigerians to suffer the indignities associated with a failed local government administration.

    There is also the need for such frontline states to collaborate with the National Assembly to tinker with the modality for elections at the local governments. Sadly, state independent electoral commissions have been anything but independent. For the good of the polity, there is an urgent need for a bipartisan approach, to deal with that challenge, and bring respect to the local government elections. No doubt, the states of underdevelopment in our local governments are enablers for the insecurity ravaging most of our rural communities.

  • General and gentleman at 90

    General and gentleman at 90

    The cake for Ripples, aside the thrill at 90 for General Yakubu Gowon, quintessential officer and gentleman if ever there was one, is former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s remarks at the special lecture marking the epoch.

    Gen. Gowon turned 90 on October 19. Obasanjo spoke on October 18. Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, President, African Development Bank (AfDB), was the guest lecturer.

    “This is a national celebration, and you’re worthy to be nationally celebrated while you’re still alive …” Obasanjo gushed, “I will just thank God on your behalf.”

    Wow!  But was it not this same Gowon, on whom Obasanjo poured concentrated scorn, in his Not My Will — Obasanjo’s post-Head of State memoirs?  Wow!

    The subject — highly emotive, to be sure — was the Bukar Sukar Dimka coup.  That coup failed.  But it took the life of Gen. Murtala Ramat Muhammed.

    In that venom-in-print, Obasanjo’s petulance knew no bounds. “Mr. Gowon”, he thundered down at his former commander-in-chief; and growled he would, pronto, be nabbed anytime he set foot on Nigeria — for alleged coup involvement not yet proven!

    Why, the Obasanjo junta would, in the passion of the moment, pass a draconian coup decree which — had the British government fallen for the regime’s rabid extradition howling — would posthaste have despatched the General to premature death!

    But irony of ironies: Gen. Sani Abacha, symbol of the starkest and most degenerate era of military rule in Nigeria, would dust up that same decree to can Obasanjo — and his No. 2: Major-General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua — in own harsh gulag, for a phantom coup!

    Obasanjo made it out of that harsh odyssey to become a two-term elected president.  Not so lucky, Yar’Adua: he died in prison in controversial circumstances.  So long for the savagery of military rule, to which we must all say: never again!

    But thank God — now on Obasanjo’s behalf! — for keeping him alive to recant, live, the anti-Gowon fulminations he wrote in Not My Will, which he released In 1990!

    By the way, Gowon and Obasanjo epitomize the two strands of military rule in Nigeria — the one mild, the other harsh.  That unfortunate epoch had own bright spots.  But on the balance, it was clearly ruinous. 

    Nevertheless, a civilizing flash into that dark era would remain Gen. Gowon, though he made own mistakes too.

    Post-Gowon monstrosity peaked with Abacha. So, did the political military’s exit after decades of huffing-and-puffing in the wrong direction — brash and haughty messiahs.

    Read Also: General Gowon remains patriotism personified, says Abbas

    Which is why the First Lady, Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu’s toast, at the Gowon thanksgiving at 90, was apt.

    “Your life of simplicity, humility, grace, dignity and patriotism to our nation gives us hope that Nigeria is all we have,” she said, “and we have to do everything in our power to make it work.”

    Simplicity.  Humility.  Grace.  Dignity.  These four words weave the Gowon essence — that noble penchant to have power, yet not lose your head over it.  These words fused in him sublime lessons in untrammelled, yet humane patriotism.

    If that was not glaring on the hill of his nine power years, it was clear in the dale of his power fall, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, when an aide whispered to his ear his overthrow.

    “Don’t you worry,” the smiling ex-Head of State told a world press conference — did anyone ever see merrier stoicism in anyone? — “just take care of Nigeria for me.  I’m a professional soldier and I’m ready to serve my country in any future capacity.”

    The one they fondly called “Jack” has lived that self-imposed covenant — which makes his 90th birthday a clear national treasure.

    Ripples never met General Gowon, one-on-one.  But among hundreds of other Lagos Island public primary school kids, arrayed on both sides of the old Lagos — now the Inner — Marina, we all waved, screaming “Gowon! Gowon!”, as the newly wed General drove out of Christ’s Cathedral with his beautiful bride, Victoria. 

    It was a slow-moving, show-stopping, jaw-dropping motorcade, back in 1969. Magical!

    The kids’ zest was not altogether happenstance.  Their teachers had put them up to it, to honour the young, dashing and lovable Head of State. 

    But that Gowon love oozed — at least from my own personal experience — from the felt love of a caring state.  The Gowon government in Lagos, then the federal capital, with the Mobolaji Johnson Lagos State government, had put in place a highly subsidized mid-day meal regime, complete with fruits and chilled milk.   It was the kids’ — mostly from poor homes — earliest feel of Nigeria’s emerging oil wealth.

    Many of us had such exciting meals first at school — and even kept a part of it for our waiting siblings at home!  Such early state care builds patriotism in young hearts.

    But the Gowon-era felt benevolence wasn’t limited to feeding Lagos primary school kids alone.  To access university education, all you needed was an acute mind, a few pair of jean trousers and shirts, and you were game! 

    The high fees of yore were gone! Again, but for the Gowon state benevolence, Ripples, who passed out of a Lafiaji-Lagos public primary school, wouldn’t have accessed two universities — Universities of Ibadan and Lagos — and joined the commentariat in a national newspaper.  There simply would have been no family cash to attain all that!

    Now, Gen. Gowon didn’t get it all right — no.  His government was the first to expel striking academics from their campus cloisters — the mother of all humiliations!

    He also went after the likes Prof. Wole Soyinka (for his Civil War “Third Force”), the great Gani Fawehinmi, SAN, SAM, and sundry campaigners for human rights against creeping military despotism.

    Some eternally raze his rather infamous quip that cash wasn’t Nigeria’s problems but how to spend it. Bitter Biafra survivors sneer at his twin post-Civil War rally: “No Victor, No Vanquished” and the 3-Rs: “Reconciliation-Reconstruction Rehabilitation”, calling both a ruse. 

    But had Biafra won, it’s a moot point if Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu would have been capable of Gowon’s rare magnanimity and grace.

    Others say Gowon was so “soft” the so-called “super-permanent secretaries” became too powerful.  But the Murtala-Obasanjo regime, with their “immediate effect” purges, smashed a once secure and vibrant civil service into today’s loose and venal “evil servants” always on illicit hustle!  We know now which is better!

    The successive “corrective” regimes, of Gowon-era corruption, emerged as worse state captors — except Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, whose integrity fetched him two terms as elected president. Gowon, by the way, didn’t own a house after his overthrow.  Compare and contrast that to the illicit wealth his successors swam in!

    That’s the Gowon mystique — keeping your head while others lost theirs.  Again, his only peer, in that lonely chamber, is Gen. Buhari.

    Which is why, Gowon’s noble deeds earn him quiet awe.  He needn’t — like Obasanjo — drone for the rest of his life, rustling up others’ faults to bury own glaring ones, just to corral suspect respect.